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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22764871">Phantom Limb</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/irishavalon/pseuds/irishavalon'>irishavalon</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Loki: Where Mischief Lies, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Loki (Marvel)-centric, Loki: Where Mischief Lies - Freeform, M/M, References to Torture, Reunion, character death but they get better</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 12:21:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>11,902</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22764871</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/irishavalon/pseuds/irishavalon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>For years, lifetimes, after Loki comes smashing into Asgard with a train full of the living dead, the memory of Theo Bell follows him like a ghost, attached to him yet absent, like a phantom limb. </p>
<p>Throughout Loki's eventful life on Asgard and beyond, his thoughts return to Theo like the tide. He longs for the man he knows he'll never meet again.</p>
<p>Or, Loki through the arc of the MCU, from before Thor 1 to after Endgame, and his aching and love for Theo Bell long after they part ways after Where Mischief Lies.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Theo Bell/Loki</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>106</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Phantom Limb</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I hope you'll forgive the minor inaccuracies. In particular, I mention that Brookwood no longer exists, which I found out after is not true. </p>
<p>Enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The memory of Theo follows Loki like a ghost, like the sensation of a limb lost in battle. For months after his mission to Midgard, Loki is given menial tasks, more chores than anything more befitting of his station. He’s suffocating and chafing under the bureaucratic chains his father has locked him in. His days are spent conducting his father’s servile dirty work and losing himself in his thoughts. Most of the time he schemes of ruining all of his father’s best laid plans, of overturning Thor’s intentions for the throne, of causing mischief at increasing levels of wickedness. But some days, he thinks of Theo. </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He tries not to. He really does. Because when he thinks about Theo, he often can’t think of anything but that look on his face at the end: disappointment over being left behind, but not a trace of surprise. And it hits him anew.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That realization that, no matter what came before — the kiss, his hands, the jokes, the sharing of a flat and a bed — Theo always knew that Loki would not keep a single promise in the end. </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And, in spite of everything that’s happened since, in spite of vowing to become the villain everyone on Asgard and Midgard alike already think he is, it still hurts. It still aches deep in his heart. He’s only ever had two friends his entire life, and one betrayed him, and </span>
  <em>
    <span>he</span>
  </em>
  <span> betrayed the other.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There comes a day, not many months after everything, when Loki can’t bear the pain, the self-hatred, the not-knowing. The wondering in circles, of what Theo is doing now, if he’s still keeping the society afloat, if he’s met someone (the bitterness and jealousy that festers in him at the thought is surprising), if he’s happy, if he’s forgotten Loki.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s unbearable, and he swallows his pride and humiliation and goes to find Heimdall.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The guardian of the bifrost stands at his post as usual, and he turns to Loki as the scorned prince approaches. His expression tells Loki that Heimdall has been expecting him. He hates that knowledge. He avoids Heimdall at the best of times, finding those all-knowing golden eyes unsettling.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hello, young prince,” he says in his deep, level voice.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hello.”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They stand in silence for a long moment, staring at each other. Loki thinks of running away, but he can’t seem to move.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You have come for a reason, I presume?” Heimdall finally breaks the stillness.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes.” Loki says, and then pauses, unsure how to broach the subject, unsure what he even wants to ask.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You can see into all of the realms, can you not?” Loki asks at last, already knowing the answer.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I can.”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Even Midgard?” Loki asks, already knowing the answer.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What is it on Midgard you would like me to see?” Heimdall asks, as though he already knows the answer to his question, too.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Had Heimdall seen him on Midgard? Had he watched Loki through his entire mission? Seen him meeting and colluding with Amora, lying badly and then not so badly to Mrs. S, reanimating that corpse, kissing Theo? How much had he neglected to tell Loki’s father, and why? Wasn’t it treason to withhold information from the All-Father?</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Loki.” Heimdall breaks through his swirling, paranoid thoughts. “What is it you wish for me to see? </span>
  <em>
    <span>Who</span>
  </em>
  <span> do you wish me to see?”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The last question snaps him back to the present more quickly than a pail of icy water thrown at him would have. Not that the cold would have affected him. </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Theo Bell.” Loki whispers.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I see him.” Heimdall says, almost sounding amused now. He’s no longer looking at Loki, staring out at the great expanse of empty, starlit space.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He’s alive?”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He’s alive.”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Is he still serving my father?” Loki asks.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, though it is mostly just him now. The burly guard usually does not accompany him.”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’ve been watching him for awhile?” Loki demands, surprised and a little possessive.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What is it you </span>
  <em>
    <span>actually</span>
  </em>
  <span> want to ask, my prince?” Heimdall asks, turning his golden eyes away from the bifrost and fixing his knowing stare on Loki again.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki can’t think of a lie or a sidestep. His voice is softer than when he whispered Theo’s name for the first time in months. “Is he happy?”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I cannot read emotions, Loki. You know this.” Heimdall’s gentle tone is more unsettling than his gaze.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p><span>“Is he with someone?” Loki asks instead. “Has he met someone? Has he—“ </span><em><span>forgotten</span></em> <em><span>me? </span></em><span>He can’t finish the question; it sounds weak even in his head. Like some sniveling, poor spurned lover, whose beloved has abandoned him, rather than the other way around.</span><span><br/></span></p>
<p>
  <span>“No.” Heimdall says, and Loki hates that it sounds like Heimdall answers the unasked question as well as the ones he voiced. He hates the warring joy and shame that rise in him at the answer. He hates how that one word has filled him with something like hope, even though he doesn’t deserve Theo, even though he has no intention of returning to Midgard with his tail between his legs. </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He turns without another word and walks back to the palace, vowing to forget about the silly Midgard boy and his hands and his smile and his lips pressed to Loki’s.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But forgetting proves to be harder than Loki expected. Forgetting Theo Bell proves to be impossible.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He’s on Midgard again. Apparently it has been close to a hundred and fifty years since the mission that dashed any possibility of his becoming king. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The feverish, wide-eyed near-madness that followed him from torture in the bowels of Thanos’s ship into reality has died down by now. His thoughts are starting to become his own again, his actions and words no longer those of a cornered, paranoid animal, and once more those of a clever, calculating Asgardian exile prince. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He will of course still fulfill his mission set forth by the Titan. He wants power, as well. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But for now, he has the archer and the scientist doing his bidding, searching in his stead. And now that his thoughts are his own, they are turning all too frequently to memories, ones his year of torment did not sour or erase, ones of the last time he was on Midgard. He goes to London, invisible.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s so different now, but he can see, beneath it all, the grimy, overcrowded, unsanitary city it was last time. The headquarters of the SHARP Society is now a Tesco Express, which appears to be a food store, though Loki has never seen something like it. The museum is still standing, but Theo’s flat has been torn down and replaced by a skyscraper.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He knows he won’t run into Theo, it’s been far too long for a human life, but part of him still half expects to round a corner and see the man limping around from the other side. It’s an odd feeling, and makes his heart feel like it’s going to melt into nothing. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He goes to Brookwood, or what </span>
  <em>
    <span>was</span>
  </em>
  <span> Brookwood. It’s still outside of the sprawling city, but is now a pair of farms. Loki sees sheep grazing in a pasture several meters away. He finds a stone, half buried in the earth. The surface has been carved into, and Loki leans down to get a better look. His heart leaps into his throat.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Throat choked with emotion, he pulls the stone from the earth using magic, repositions it until it’s standing upright as it once had.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His brother finds him hours later. Loki hears and senses him before he sees him. Dark, brooding clouds suddenly swirl across what was clear blue sky mere moments ago. Booming thunder echoes across the heavens, and Loki smells ozone.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He doesn’t look at Thor, but he knows he’s there.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What the fuck have you been doing?” His brash blond brute of a brother demands. Loki closes his eyes as Thor continues, naming his many recent crimes. “Trying to invade Earth, abducting and charming Clint Barton and Erik Selvig, who also happens be my </span>
  <em>
    <span>friend</span>
  </em>
  <span>, colluding with--”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, leave it, Thor,” Loki bites out, swiping at his eyes. “For one moment, just-- leave it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>No</span>
  </em>
  <span>, you’re trying to -- Are you crying?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No.” Loki hates how obvious the lie sounds.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What is it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Thor’s change in tone from anger to concern might have filled Loki with pride in another life. Now it only makes him feel weak, vulnerable.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Leave me. Or arrest me, take me back to your self-important little friends or whatever you want to do.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When Thor doesn’t respond, Loki glances up. His brother has walked around to the other side of the grave, looking at the name on the stone. Loki watches him mouth the name to himself for a moment, and then his eyes spark in recognition. He looks back at Loki.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Is this… the Theo from your mission? The Norn Stones thing?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki wants to ignore him, wants to scream in his face to just leave him be, but the heartache and the shock and the inexplicable longing for Theo rears up again and seizes his heart. He’s not strong enough to lie or ignore it. Not today.</span>
</p>
<p><span>“He asked me to bring him with me. He begged me to bring him to Asgard. And I didn’t. And he died a year later. </span><em><span>A</span></em> <em><span>year!</span></em><span> He was twenty-seven, Thor! How old is your Dr. Foster? How old is your </span><em><span>Selvig</span></em><span>?”</span></p>
<p>
  <span>He doesn’t wait for Thor to respond. “And he couldn’t last a year in that cesspool of a city. But it might not have been the pollution or the disease that killed him. It could have been the other people. If I’d kept my word </span>
  <em>
    <span>for once</span>
  </em>
  <span>, he wouldn’t have died so soon.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Loki, I am so sorry,” Thor murmurs, in that gentle tone of their mother’s, the tone Loki always forgets he’s capable of, while he’s being noble and brash like their father. It almost breaks Loki’s heart further. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He takes out the tesseract, and vanishes.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He’s been in this godforsaken cell for days, weeks. The time and the distance from Thanos serve to further purge all remaining residue of the torture and brainwashing he underwent before Midgard. His actions on Midgard were still his own; he knows that. But the anger and paranoia and heavy influence of Thanos drove him to extremes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Now he’s alone in this box, left with nothing but his thoughts and the nightmares.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When he’s not dreaming he’s back on the </span>
  <em>
    <span>Sanctuary II</span>
  </em>
  <span>, he dreams of Theo. He dreams of the last time he saw the human, with that look on Theo’s face that has haunted Loki, stalked him like a phantom, for years. He dreams of Theo’s smile, of his long, lithe fingers, of his voice. He dreams of Theo coming to him in his cell, pressing red lips to his cheek, his neck, his lips. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He awakens with a heart aching like it has been stabbed, with tears in his eyes, with Theo’s name on his lips. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s all he can do to push thoughts of Theo away during the day.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You are in pain.” Frigga’s illusion appears in his cell. It is not the first time, but it is nearly the last (though Loki does not yet know it). </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m stuck in a prison cell with nothing to do. I can’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>imagine</span>
  </em>
  <span> why you would think that.” Loki says, sarcasm dripping bitterly from his tongue. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I have seen you bear this type of pain before,” Frigga continues, as though he hasn’t spoken. “Many years ago, when you came home from Midgard the first time. I did not suspect it was entirely because of your father’s decision.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Of course not,” Loki cuts in, still sarcastic.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You were longing for something, or someone. You were practically in mourning. I know you think you hid it well, but I could see your heartache.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You don’t know what you saw.” Loki snaps, defensive and aching and terrified of being so known, even by his own mother.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I do, my child.” Frigga presses on. “Your brother bears the same ache, for the Midgardian girl he has come to love. Tell me, my dear, who did you meet those years ago?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki does not answer. He refuses to look at Frigga. Frigga pushes further. “Was it Amora?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No.” Loki says too quickly, not thinking. “She betrayed me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Then who does your heart weep for?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki does not answer, but thinks, an idea forming. Instead, he murmurs, “Can Father see into the afterlife? Into Hel or Valhalla?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes. Who do you search for?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki shifts, still not looking at the image of his mother. He feels her eyes on him, remembers that piercing, knowing gaze Heimdall cast on him all those years ago, when he asked the keeper of the bifrost to look on Theo in life. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Loki? I will ask your father to find him. What is his name?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The pronoun causes Loki to look up at her in surprise. “How do you know it is a man?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She gave him a small, sad smile. “Thor told me about the gravesite.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He is going to kill his brother. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Tell me his name, Loki.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What does it matter? Father will not do me any favors.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He will look.” Frigga says with certainty. “I will make sure he does.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Theo,” Loki says, as though the name has been ripped from him, as though he cannot keep the name in his heart forever. “His name is Theo Bell.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I will ask him to look, Loki. I promise you.” Frigga’s illusion shimmers and vanishes, and Loki is left alone once more.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She comes to him once more, without any news for him of Theo’s whereabouts. She says she is still persuading Odin. Loki doubts she will succeed. He is cruel to her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His next visitor is a guard, standing stiffly outside his cell. The man’s voice is steady, emotionless. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And, suddenly, his mother is dead.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Thor comes, breaks him out, and they have a plan. Actually, Loki has several, but the first is to avenge his mother’s murder. It’s in Thor’s top goals as well, though Loki suspects it isn’t his primary driving force of this scheme. He tries to ignore the anger and distrust in Thor’s eyes when he looks at Loki, tries to enjoy this rare sight of Thor going rogue while it lasts. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The girl is asleep on the other side of the ship. Thor gazes at her with a softness Loki has almost never seen in his eyes. It makes him ache, makes him want to turn away. He thinks of Theo’s grave. They’re pathetic, the both of them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thor.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mm.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Say goodbye.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Thor looks at him, and Loki jerks his chin toward Jane. Thor clenches his jaw.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Not on this day.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It will not last. It cannot. You’ll never be ready.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Like Theo?” Thor asks. Loki goes still for a minute, the shock of the man’s name in his brother’s mouth enough to make him freeze. But only for a moment.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Exactly,” he says quietly. “She could live only another year, or she could live sixty. Either way, it’ll be a mere breath in your life, and he’ll be gone.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“She,” Thor corrects gently. Loki realizes his mistake too late. He doesn’t look at Thor, who he knows is staring at him pityingly. He stares out the side of the boat as the worlds rush by. If he doesn’t seal the wound that’s reopened in his heart, he won’t be able to do this.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Thor’s been gone from Asgard for years. Loki almost misses him. Almost.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He has more than enough to keep himself busy, to keep thoughts of his brother at bay. Diplomatic meetings, petitions from subjects, talks with his advisors, overseeing the royal theatre. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This evening the palace is quiet. He takes his evening meal in his chambers, and then wanders the halls. Servants bow to him and shrink away as he passes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And then he’s in her room, breathing in her scent, gazing at all of these things that once belonged to her. His vision is slightly obscured by the eyepatch, but it allows him a way to hide the tears threatening to spill. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He opens a drawer at her desk, and his heart stutters. Inside, a folded piece of parchment sits, a pen atop it to keep it closed, and on the front-- his own name. He takes it out with shaking fingers; what could she have written her traitorous son before her death? He unfolds the paper and begins to read.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>My son,</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I haven’t much time. Asgard is under attack and I must protect the Midgardian girl your brother loves so dearly.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I fear I may not live long enough to tell you what I have found in person, so I hope that whenever and whoever you are when you finally come across this note that it gives you peace. The one you seek (and love so dearly? A mother knows, my dear child) is in Valhalla. He died a warrior and a hero, loyal to and protective of Asgard and its realms, and has been rewarded with eternal feasting and praises. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I hope this brings you solace, my darling, and I hope I live to tell you myself. I love you. I always have and I still do. I wish you would believe this. I love you.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Your Mother.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Loki collapses into a chair, the wood creaking with Odin’s heavier form. He puts his hands over his face and for the first time in a long time, he weeps. He weeps for the loss of his mother that he has spent years trying and failing to come to terms with. He weeps for Mrs. S., long dead and buried in a British cemetery that no longer exists, and for the aching joy of finding Amora again and the stabbing pain of her expected (but nonetheless heartbreaking) betrayal. And he weeps a complicated mix of tears for Theo, joy that he is finally in a place of honor, regret for what could have been had he brought the man to Asgard, and grief so painful it’s as if he witnessed Theo’s death himself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And deep in his blackened but still beating heart, the golden truth that has always hidden there blossoms with glaring overtness: He loved Theo. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Loves</span>
  </em>
  <span> Theo. The memory of the Midgardian has followed him around for almost two hundred years, a mere breath in his long life, yet he feels the time as acutely as if he aged at a human pace.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His love for Amora had never been like this. Strong, deep, and true, to be sure, but the kinship he felt with her was borne of naive loneliness. She was the first person who seemed to understand him, and he craved so deeply to be known and accepted. Half the time he wanted to </span>
  <em>
    <span>be</span>
  </em>
  <span> her more than be </span>
  <em>
    <span>with</span>
  </em>
  <span> her, this woman free to practice her magic, confident and fierce and unapologetic in who she was, protective of him yet capable of standing on her own two feet when faced with the threat of banishment. Her ability to survive on Midgard in spite of the odds, and likely </span>
  <em>
    <span>out of</span>
  </em>
  <span> spite for the king and the sorceress who had cast her out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His love of Theo isn’t like that. It came of being known in other ways, of trusting and being trusted. Of being taken down a peg with the sharp rap of a cane when he was acting too lofty and spoiled. Of watery tea and cold nights and a flat that at some point had stopped being “Theo’s” and had started being “theirs”. He realized the truth years ago, but it is still true now: he’d allow himself to be trapped in a thousand coffins if it meant he could spend ten more minutes with Theo Bell. He’s come to terms with the fondness now. With the love. He just wishes and wishes, though he knows it’s in vain, that it wasn’t too late.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He has so many questions to ask his mother, to ask his father. Did Theo die happy? Had he found a partner, someone to make his unwelcoming world a little lighter? Was he happy now, or was he tired of the constant feasting and carousing of the Asgardian heroes? Was he lonely? Was Mrs. S. with him? Loki had thought knowing Theo was in Valhalla, as he deserved, would be enough. He had thought it would satisfy him, help him move on. But he aches more deeply now than ever.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He enters Heimdall’s helm. “Heimdall, open the bifrost.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Heimdall searches his eyes a moment, as though he knows it is Loki behind this golden eye patch, this grisly white beard. But then he replies, “Yes, your majesty. Where to?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“London, on Midgard.” Loki replies in the crisp, kingly voice of his father.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Heimdall inclines his head dutifully. His amber eyes dance with amusement and possibly a little pity. “Yes, my king.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And send a message to the theatre. Tell the actors to continue rehearsing. I will be back in time for the performance tomorrow.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, my king.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Heimdall plunges the blade into the lock and turns. Loki sees the flash of light, the streaming colors, and then he lands in a patch of mud in the darkness. He shakes off his illusion, stretching his limbs and shaking out his dark hair. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He doesn’t dare let his true form -- any of them -- out on Asgard. He hardly dares to do so on Midgard; he has no idea where his brother is, still on his foolish quest for the infinity stones. Loki shakes away the haunting memory of Thanos from his mind and magically dispels the mud from his boots as he begins walking.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The Necropolis Rail no longer runs through the gate to the bifrost, and Brookwood is no longer operational. In fact, only two graves remain, in between two farms, the land they occupy spelled so each farmer believes it to belong to his neighbor. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki had found their graves, half buried in the ground after so long forgotten, and had restored them to their original upright positions the first time he returned to Midgard. The two were surprisingly near each other, and Loki suspects Gem had something to do with that. He’s grateful; if they’d been meters or kilometers apart, the magic preserving the land from vandals and curious farmers would have been more difficult.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki sits, though the ground is moist and unpleasantly squishy beneath him. It is so dark he can barely make out the silhouettes of the tombstones. But he knows what they say; the words are burned into his memory. ‘Sarah Sharp 1813-1867’ ‘Theodore Bell 1841-1868’</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He considers speaking to them, but he can’t bring himself to break the silence to speak to a couple of carved stones, knowing Theo is far, far away in Valhalla, and hoping Mrs. S. is there, too. Instead, he closes his eyes, trying to remember Theo, his red curls peeking out from under his hat, his cane, his limp, his sideways smile, his hands. Recalling his voice is harder, but Loki finds it in the end, and then the other sounds are easier: his laugh, his annoyed huff, the way he said Loki’s name. When it hurts too much, he shifts his thoughts to Mrs. S.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>These memories are harder to come; he doesn’t think of her as often as Theo, and now he feels a pang of regret for that. But he isn’t in love with her, she doesn’t follow him into every bad choice and every death trap the way the memory of Theo does. It isn’t the same, and Loki thinks she would understand.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At last, he opens his eyes and stands. The first tendrils of dawn are just peeking over the horizon. He touches the top of Theo’s grave and, in a brief, childish indulgence in the face of his grief, allows himself to speak aloud. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Rest well, my love,” he whispers, hating how his voice cracks on the last word. He turns and walks away, desperate and aching and shattered with longing. But he knows that, when he does die for real, it is unlikely he will go to Valhalla. Too many years playing the villain, the god of chaos, the great betrayer. If he somehow dies a hero, it will likely be one tiny diamond in a sea of the shit he’s caused over his lifetime. He doubts he’ll live as long as he once told Theo, but he knows his days of mucking everything up are far from behind him. One day, sooner or later, Thor is going to bash his skull in with that infernal hammer of his, and no amount of cunning or sorcery or cleverly hidden knives will save him. He wonders, as he transforms back into Odin and calls Heimdall, just how quickly that day will come. And when it does, that will be it for Villainous, Cruel Loki.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When it does, he will truly be separated from Theo forever.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Loki will never admit it, but Thanos terrifies him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s been years since the Battle of New York, since the Titan saved him from falling through space and immediately set his children upon torturing Loki. Yet Thanos has filled his nightmares, keeping his fear alive. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When the </span>
  <em>
    <span>Sanctuary II</span>
  </em>
  <span> descended upon the </span>
  <em>
    <span>Ark</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Loki forgot how to breathe.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And now the mad titan is on the ship, Hulk is out of commision for the moment, and Asgardian corpses litter the floor of the ship. Thanos traps Thor in metal scraps and Loki reveals the tesseract, stolen from Odin’s vaults as Ragnarok began. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Thor’s last words to him ring in his ears even after Thanos silences him with scrap. “You really are the worst brother.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And then Thanos’s hand is around Loki’s throat, squeezing the life out of him. And Thor’s muffled screams still echo throughout the base of the ship, even though Loki just betrayed him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki’s vision swims and then turns to black. His body goes limp.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No. No!” He feels the universe pulling him away, away from his body, from the mad titan’s hands around his throat, from life, from the Ark. Pulling him away from Thor.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Panic seizes him, starting in his heart and flaring outward. He flails, tries to swim against the current of death. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Not yet. Not now.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No no no. Please take me back to my brother!” He begs the universe. “He’ll kill him. He’ll kill Thor. Bring me back!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s no use, though. Death hurtles him away from life, from Thor, like the train and then the bifrost sped him away from Theo’s disappointment all those years ago. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He stops trying to resist, lets the flow of the universe float him away to his fate. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>No use thwarting death again if death does not want to be thwarted.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At least it wasn’t Thor who killed him at last.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>After a time -- minutes? Days? Millennia? So hard to know -- the viscous, fluid darkness deposits him on a field of waving emerald grass. The light burns his eyes for a moment before he remembers he is dead and can no longer feel pain. The sunlight is golden and the sky is so, so blue; he is reminded, with an aching homesickness, of Asgard. In the distance stands a great building, one that almost resembles the palace he once called home. Is this Hel?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Confused, and not daring to believe his suspicions, he stands and begins walking toward the structure. It appears to be far away, but he reaches it in a much shorter time than he expected. A woman stands just outside the door, beaming down at him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My darling child.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mother? What are you doing here?” Joy replaces the despair of finally losing the battle of life and leaving Thor to fight off Thanos alone. He can’t believe she’s standing here, at the doors to Hel. She ought to be in Valhalla, feasting in glory beside her husband.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She reaches for him and he mounts the steps and falls into her arms. He can smell her perfume, feel her honey curls tickling the side of his face.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Welcoming you home, of course,” she says, and he can’t let her go but he can feel her smile.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Where am I?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My child, you are in Valhalla.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He pulls away and stares at her, seeing the pride in her eyes. He in no way deserves it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Valhalla? But I have always been --”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You have been trying to be better. You </span>
  <em>
    <span>are</span>
  </em>
  <span> better. You protected your people.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Not well.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Loki, my dear, let me finish,” Frigga says sternly. When Loki nods respectfully at her, she continues. “You protected your people many times in the past few months. You stole the tesseract, but you did so to keep it away from those who would use it for evil. And you stood against the titan when it would have been easier to hand the stone over and run away. These are not small things.” She squeezes his hands. “Yes, you have not always been noble or kind or loyal, but you have shown more nobility and kindness and loyalty, not to mention courage and honor, in the last days of Asgard and beyond than some of the warriors behind these doors didn’t exhibit in a lifetime. You deserve to be here.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mother, but Thor -- I have to --”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You brother is safe for now. He is a good boy, brave like his father and brother. He will be all right. It is time for your reward, my dear.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki’s head is swimming from her words, praises he has never been given, never deserved, and the promise that Thor is still alive and is safe somewhere in the cosmos. He glances at the great oaken doors behind Frigga, hears cheers and roars of celebration and singing beyond them. And then he remembers.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mother,” he whispers, hardly daring to believe this isn’t just some dream, “is he…?” He doesn’t dare finish the question.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But Frigga’s eyes soften, and he sees she understands. “Yes,” she replies with a smile. “Go in and see him.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki places slightly trembling hands on the door and pushes it open. The cacophony of celebration is louder now that the door is open, and he steps into the great hall, where the eternal feast is well underway. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As he casts his eyes around, he thinks he recognizes some of the faces from the stories his tutors told him as a small child, and sees other faces of Asgardians he has known all his life who had gone before him. At the end of the table sits his father, an empty seat beside him that must be Frigga’s place. Odin sees him and a beam Loki hasn’t seen directed at him since he was a small child brightens the king’s face. “My son has come to join the feast!” Odin booms, and Loki almost falls over from the shock of hearing the pride in the king’s voice. “Welcome, Loki!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The other heroes call out a greeting, but it is at this point that Loki finally spots Theo, just as the man’s head whips around to catch sight of him and Theo jumps to his feet.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki watches Theo form his name as he stares. Loki’s eyes fill with tears as he stares back, drinking him in. </span>
  <em>
    <span>A hundred and fifty years</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Loki never dreamed he’d be blessed enough to see his face again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m so, so sorry,” he mouths to him, unable to contain the grief and regret inside him any longer.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And then Theo steps around his chair, not taking his eyes off Loki, and begins walking to him. Steady, without a cane or a limp, and Loki’s heart feels like it’s going to burst. He starts moving, too, and they meet in the middle. He can’t bring himself to touch Theo, not yet, not until he knows it would be welcome.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m so sorry,” he breathes again, out loud this time. “I should have brought you with me to Asgard, I shouldn’t have left you. I didn’t know you only lived another year until it was far too late. I’m sorry.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Theo gives him a soft smile. “I forgave you so long ago, Loki, it hasn’t hurt me in ages.” He pauses, searching Loki’s face as desperately as Loki’s been searching his. “You’ve gotten older.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The threat of small talk with the man he’s been in love with for almost two hundred years is almost unbearable, but he shifts uncomfortably from foot to foot and responds. “Yes. Do you--” he stops, not sure what he wants to ask, not sure if he dares ask the one question that could destroy him. But every molecule in his body is aching to touch Theo again, and be touched by him, and he can’t bring himself to do it without knowing, so he barrels on. “Did you have someone? </span>
  <em>
    <span>Do</span>
  </em>
  <span> you have someone?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>If possible, Theo’s smile becomes even softer. “I think so,” he says. “If he still wants me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And then Theo is kissing him. Loki kisses him back hard, wrapping his arms tight around the other man. Loki only lets Theo kiss him for a moment before he’s kissing every inch of his face -- cheeks, nose, forehead, temples -- before returning to kiss around the grin on Theo’s beautiful lips. Then he pulls back to rest his forehead against Theo’s.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I thought you would have moved on,” Loki murmurs. Theo’s blue eyes bore into his own.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“There’s no one for me but you. And you looked back.” Theo replies.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki’s dizzy with love for this man. “I couldn’t help myself.” Loki admits.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Theo’s smile returns and Loki pulls him into a tight embrace, desperate to never let go of him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After a long moment, Theo pulls away to take Loki’s hand. He kisses it, then murmurs, “Come.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He leads Loki back to his place at the table, with another empty chair now at his side.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The banquet hall is as loud and raucous as feasts in Asgard. Loki manages it for a few hours (or at least, what seems like a few hours. He can’t be sure how much time has passed in the living world, or if he even really cares). The noise and the drinking and the meat have never truly been preferable to Loki. The best part of some of the feast days in his memory were his magical pranks, and even then, the planning had been more exciting than the execution.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you enjoying this?” Theo asks. Loki turns to him, and he continues, “Only, you don’t seem interested in the food or the other warriors. I’ve been here for quite some time, so if you’d rather go somewhere else--”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We can leave the feast?” Loki asks. None of the stories he’d heard of Valhalla had mentioned there was anything but feasting and drinking to be done. The only allure in recent years was the promise of Theo’s presence. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes. There’s a whole palace!” Theo exclaims. “With rooms for everyone -- if they care to leave -- and training grounds and contest arenas.” He flushes. “I’ve explored a small part of it, and walked in on a few….” He trails off and drops his voice, but Loki can hear his awed tone. “Men and women, but couples of just men, too. You were right; no one cares. I still can’t quite believe it.” He shakes his head in wonder, or perhaps to clear it to return to the point.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Anyway, do you want to go for a walk?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki looks around, taking in the roars and the subpar manners and the carousing, and then turns back to Theo with a smile. “Absolutely.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They leave the banquet behind, entering the rest of the sprawling compound. The halls glitter of gold and marble, which Loki takes for granted as the palace of his childhood was nearly as grand. But he catches Theo staring around as they walk, and tries to see the opulence through his eyes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As though he can tell what Loki’s thinking, Theo says, “I still haven’t gotten used to this place. All this wealth. The entire building my flat was in could fit in just this room!” he raises his arms and turns. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“This is just a hallway,” Loki says.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Even so.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They fall silent for awhile as they walk. Theo doesn’t seem to have a destination, content to wander through the winding, unending halls of Valhalla. Loki’s mind wanders, back to the </span>
  <em>
    <span>Ark</span>
  </em>
  <span>, to Thor, before he pulls his thoughts away from that. The possibility that Thor is dead is too much for him to bear, though Frigga reassured him of his brother’s safety and Thor would without a doubt be here if he were dead. Instead he lets his mind follow another path, albeit one just as dark. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What are you brooding about?” Theo asks suddenly. Loki turns his head to see Theo looking at him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I wasn’t brooding,” he denies indignantly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You had a brooding look.” Theo says, raising his eyebrows skeptically.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I wasn’t brooding,” Loki says again. “Just...thinking.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Very well. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Thinking</span>
  </em>
  <span>. What were you </span>
  <em>
    <span>thinking</span>
  </em>
  <span> about, then?” Theo still doesn’t sound entirely convinced, but he lets it go.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki considers avoiding the question, making up some lie that Theo would inevitably see through; Loki never could lie to Theo very well. His mouth is quicker than his mind, however, without a trace of silver on his tongue, damn it. “How did you die?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Theo leans back for a moment in surprise. Whatever the other man had been expecting Loki to say, it clearly was not that. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You don’t have to tell me--” Loki begins apologetically, but Theo cuts him off.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It wasn’t very exciting. Wrong place, wrong time. London in the sixties was like that.” Theo says, and Loki just looks at him. He doesn’t believe Theo for a second. He already knows, from Frigga’s letter, that it was in service of the Nine Realms. A mugging or getting caught in crossfire doesn’t add up.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Theo catches his look and sighs. “I found a couple of smugglers sneaking magical artifacts through Midgard. Apparently they were pretty powerful beings, because your father said to stay low and wait for further instructions. But I thought…. It was stupid, but I thought I could handle it. Even Gem wouldn’t go with me. ‘If the king of Asgard said no, then it must be outside of our abilities,’ he said. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I should have listened to him, but I didn’t. I just called him a coward and said Mrs. S. would have gone. So I did. I don’t know what I was trying to prove or who I was trying to impress, but I went to what I had discovered to be their meeting place. I went in half-cocked, with only the mere hint of a plan. And… I confronted them, with only my cane and that black powder to defend myself. I thought there’d be only two. I thought I could take them. I was an idiot.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Instead of two, there were five. I didn’t stand a chance. And what’s worse, the last thing I remember before they ended my life, was the realization that it was a trap, that they had been expecting me. I’d been tricked. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“They completely destroyed me. All that was left was bones, I’ve figured out. And the only reason anyone had anything left to bury was because they sent the bones back to headquarters. Gem must have found them; no one else would have known it was me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It is so much worse than anything Loki has allowed himself to imagine, because the alternative -- </span>
  <em>
    <span>this</span>
  </em>
  <span> -- hurt too much.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I should have been there.” Loki says.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How? Would your father have let you return to Earth after you entered Asgard with a train full of the living dead?” Theo asks.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I was too much of a threat anywhere but under a watchful eye at home,” Loki admits. “But still, I should have been there.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Let go of your guilt, Loki.” Theo says gently, taking his hand. The words and the action are undermined by his next sentence. “It’s not becoming on you. It’s far too jarring.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki rolls his eyes but squeezes Theo’s hand. Theo squeezes back.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I do not think you were stupid to do that. It’s one of the most courageous things I’ve ever heard,” Loki says with feeling. Theo flushes a deep, attractive red.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, well. I still disobeyed orders. I’m surprised Odin let me into Valhalla.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He does not have a say in who gets into Valhalla.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But all the stories say--”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Those are stories, Theo. Legends about gods. If there’s one thing my father has tried to impress on my brother and I over the years, it’s that we are not gods. We are not all-powerful. We are different from humans, to be sure, but we are mortal and as such have our own shortcomings. One of Odin’s is that he is not in charge of Valhalla. And anyway, some of the bravest things my brother has ever done has gotten him into heaps of trouble with my father. Not all acts of bravery are acts of obedience.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Theo shifts uncomfortably at the praise. “Philosophy is not becoming on you either, you know,” he says. Loki laughs, and Theo joins him for a moment.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So,” Theo meets Loki’s eyes again, “how did you die?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki frowns. He expected Theo to ask, but he is still not ready to tell the story. Of falling from the bifrost and landing in a torture chamber, of finally leaving in a worse state than he entered, of doing Thanos’s bidding on earth and hurting his brother and scores of humans in the process, of betraying his brother at the very end -- regardless of his intentions -- and unwittingly luring the titan to their ship and endangering his remaining people. Of losing the Tesseract in the end and finally succumbing to death between the fingers of his one-time master. It is a lot, and does not paint him in a favorable light no matter how the story is spun. He’s only just found Theo again; he can’t bear to let his past cause him to lose the man so soon.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s a very long story, and you will not think well of me by the end of it.” Loki says at last.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I did not think well of you when you left me. I am not unaware of who you are, Loki. I didn’t think well of you, but I found I couldn’t stop thinking of you. And before you say something clever and conceited, you can shut up.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I am rather hard to forget.” Loki says with a smirk.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I believe I said shut up.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki laughs, the darkness of his memories scattering at the fondness in his heart for this man. Theo joins in, and sits down on a bench Loki has not noticed until now. Theo pats the space beside him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We are dead.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I hadn’t noticed,” Loki says drily.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hush. We are dead, and we have nothing but time. Tell me your long story of how you died.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>So he does. He starts at the very beginning, betraying Thor that first time and falling from the bifrost at the end of it, down, down, down for an eternity before being picked up by Thanos and his followers. He tells Theo about being tortured, though the words get caught in his throat more than once, for he has never spoken about it aloud. He recalls finally being set loose, a shell of who he was, filled with nothing but anger and pain and fear, that the Mad Titan used to his advantage. Of being sent to Midgard to hunt down the Space Stone and enslave the planet. Of slowly, slowly putting himself back together again in a cell on Asgard, on a ship bound for Svartalfheim, and upon the king’s throne, wearing his father’s face. Of becoming a stronger deity of mischief, a better brother, a braver person who doesn’t run when the object of their nightmares returns to slaughter their people and strangle the breath from their lungs and win the long battle. And finally, of death.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He tells Theo everything, and it hurts with an excruciating pulse of pain at every word. But it hurts like the needle and thread, stitching over the gaping wound, sealing him back up again. Healing hurts nearly as fantastically as the original injury. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And Theo remains by his side through all of it. No look of disgust when Loki tells of stabbing Thor, no fury over how Loki behaved on Earth. He sits silently and stares unwaveringly into Loki’s eyes through the whole story.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well,” Theo says, at last, when Loki has finished, “none of that sounds any worse than leaving a crippled man in the middle of nowhere so he has to walk miles home alone, through the mud and blood.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki gapes at him. “Did you listen to any of it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Theo smiles at him, and Loki realizes belatedly that he’s been had. “You’ve made many mistakes, some of which are certainly unforgivable. But you have been atoning for them. You’ve been trying to be better, and that must count for something in this universe. Otherwise you would not find yourself here, right?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s almost exactly the same as Frigga’s words when he first arrived in Valhalla. Hearing them again in Theo’s voice feels like the truth, and he thinks he might be starting to believe it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But,” he can’t help voicing, “I have made far more bad decisions, mistakes as you call them, than I have made good ones.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Theo hums in agreement. “That is true,” he admits. “But the universe has at least started to forgive you. Your father has clearly forgiven you, if his greeting when you arrived tells me anything. I think it’s time for you to start forgiving yourself, don’t you think?” He says the last sentence so gently, and he gazes at Loki so fondly, that Loki thinks he might be right.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And Loki can’t help it. He has no self-control anymore where this man is concerned. He leans over and presses his face into Theo’s curls on the top of his head. His hair is soft; Loki breathes him in.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I missed you so much,” he murmurs. The tears fill his eyes again, and this time a few of them fall into Theo’s hair. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Theo puts a hand on Loki’s thigh and leans over slightly to be closer to him. And it feels like reuniting with a phantom limb, like putting his lost heart back in his chest. Like coming home to watery tea and threadbare blankets and a cold, small room, and Theo’s voice.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I missed you, too.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They sit like that for a long while. Loki’s not sure how much time passes, either in Valhalla or in the rest of the universe. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Your highness.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki turns to see one of the heroes standing before them. He sits up straight and Theo takes his hand from Loki’s thigh.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Your father is summoning everyone in Valhalla. Something… something is happening.” the man says.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki and Theo look at each other. “We will come,” Loki replies. The man nods, then turns and heads back to the banquet hall. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki and Theo stand and Loki takes Theo’s hand in his. “Is this something my father does often here?” Loki asks.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Theo shakes his head. “He has never done this. I don’t know what’s happening.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They go back to the banquet hall. There seems to be far more heroes in the room than there had been when they’d left. Loki’s insides turn cold. “He’s done it then,” Loki murmurs.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What?” Theo asks.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thanos. He’s used the stones to wipe out half the universe.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Theo gapes at him. “He has all the stones?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Honored warriors!” Odin bellows at the head of the table before Loki can respond. “The nine realms are in danger. The Mad Titan Thanos has used the stones to throw the universe off balance. You have all fought bravely throughout your lifetime, giving your lives for Asgard and its realms. We honor you for that. But I must ask that you raise your arms one final time, for the good of all the universe. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Should you choose to join our brothers and sisters in this battle, you will be restored to life once more and sent to Midgard for the final noble stand-off against Thanos. You have already sacrificed yourselves for the good of the realms, and so anyone willing to stay behind will be permitted to remain at your celebratory feast. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“If you wish to fight one last time, however, the portal will be cast in the field shortly.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>All around them, warriors yell battle cries and cheers of agreement. There is a mad scramble of hundreds of warriors retrieving and unsheathing weapons and shields, strapping armor, and donning helmets, and then a rush past Loki and Theo through the doors. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki turns to Theo. “What do you want to do?” he asks.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wherever you go, I go.” Theo says immediately. He shrugs. “Anyway, I want to hit this Thanos for torturing and killing you, even if it brought you back to me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m not letting you anywhere near that power-hungry bastard.” Loki says.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, I’ll settle for killing a few of his soldiers, then.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki nods, smiling in admiration of his love’s courage. By now there are only a few heroes left in the hall. He looks to the head of the table, and is surprised to see his father still there, unmoving beside Frigga.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Father,” Loki calls, and he looks up. “We will go.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Odin beams. “You will do well.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you not joining us?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Odin shakes his head. “I have fought my battles. It is time my children took my place. You will lead the heroes of Valhalla in my stead, my son.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki stares for a long moment, then nods in understanding. He begins turning to leave, but remembers and looks back at Odin.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Father.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What is it, Loki?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Theo had an injury in life. Will it return?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Odin’s gaze slides from his son to look at Theo. He smiles. “All wounds will be healed. You will not have a limp, Theo Bell. However,” he adds, “this may still come in handy.” He waves a hand toward Theo, and Theo’s cane appears in his hand. Theo stares at it for a moment, and then swings it experimentally. Loki dodges out of the way.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Watch it!” he says. Theo merely grins at him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Let’s go,” Theo says, taking Loki’s arm in his free hand and pulling him out the door. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Outside, the warriors watch them approach, parting to allow them to pass. Heimdall stands at the front, watching them approach. He kneels before Loki.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My brother will be happy to see you,” Loki says to him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Heimdall smiles. “He will be more happy to see you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I betrayed him.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You tried to keep him safe.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He did not know that.” Loki says, the shame returning with his final memories. Theo’s hold on his arm tightens.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He does. I see him. He misses you so.” Heimdall insists. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I thought you couldn’t read emotions.” Loki says. Heimdall’s smile widens a bit.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thor is easy to read.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Heimdall stands then, and in a louder voice so the other warriors can hear, he says, “We look to you, my prince.” He takes his place at Loki’s left, Theo not showing any sign of ever leaving his right side (Loki agrees). The other warriors, heroes of Asgard’s past, fall behind the three of them: gatekeeper with no bridge, redeemed prince of no kingdom, Midgardian human a hundred years out of his time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>‘Leading an army of the living dead.’</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He lets out a short bark of laughter as the words flow back to him over hundreds of years of memory. Theo looks at him, confusion pinching his face, but Loki sees the fondness behind it when he turns to the other man. “What on earth is funny about this?” Theo asks.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki shakes his head, smiling. “Just a bit of irony.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He nods to Heimdall, and the other man opens the portal, back to life, to Midgard, to the chaos of battle with a titan in possession of every infinity stone.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki looks at Theo, who gives him a crooked smile. He half raises his fist in the air. “For Asgard?” he says quietly. Loki smiles at the memory.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He throws his own fist into the air, shouts clear and high on the wind, “For Asgard!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The warriors echo the cry through the ranks until the field is filled with the cacophony of shouting voices and the crash of swords and spears against shields.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Stay close to me,” Loki murmurs to Theo just before they pass through the portal.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m not going anywhere,” Theo reassures him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They step through the portal to Midgard as one.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There are so many people, more fighters than Loki has ever seen in his life. Theo must feel the same, because Loki hears him curse under his breath. He can see Thor at the front of the pack, can see Thor searching the warriors of Valhalla, a look of desperation on his face.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But then the Chitauri let out a roaring battle cry, and begin to race across the makeshift battle ground toward them, and Thor turns his attention to Rogers, standing next to him and inexplicably holding Mjolnir.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“AVENGERS!” The Captain hollers. “Assemble!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They move as one to meet the Chitauri in the middle. Theo remains by Loki’s side as they descend upon the enemies, getting closer by the moment, and before long a Chitauri soldier breaks free of his ranks, running directly toward Loki and Theo.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Theo swings his cane, and the metal end collides with a warrior’s jaw, knocking him to the ground. Loki swoops in with his daggers, stabbing deep in the small of the soldier’s back and twisting. Then he picks up the great axe the alien was wielding and hands it to Theo.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Can you carry it?” He asks.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Can you swing it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki nods and they turn back toward the swarms of enemies barreling toward them. Theo shifts his grip on the axe, waits for a warrior to come close enough. The alien raises his sword with a war cry, ready to strike them down. Theo swings, and the blade slices through the alien’s neck, taking his head clean off. It drops, lifeless, to the ground.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki and Theo stare at each other, eyes wide.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wish I’d had one of these last time I was alive,” Theo says with an astonished laugh, turning his eyes toward the fight once more. “Might’ve lived a little longer.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki cannot tear his eyes from Theo’s face, heart in his throat, the pride and awe and love rising in him, and he can’t help it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I love you,” he tells Theo.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Theo doesn’t look at him, but the corner of his mouth turns upward in a smile.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The first time you say that to me, and we’re in a battle.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I didn’t have a chance to say it earlier.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Theo steps sideways, leans up to kiss Loki quickly on his cheek as the enemy’s forces bear ever closer.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I love you, too.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And then there are too many Chitauri for either to say anything more. They fight.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Rogers and another Avenger that Loki does not know lift Tony Stark’s body from the ground and bear him away, and a blonde woman and a teenage boy follow them, a solemn macabre parade. Others follow, and Loki, standing some distance away with Theo, thinks Thor will join the silent procession. It feels more like a defeat than a victory. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Through the Iron Man’s slow farewell and death, Loki stays away, out of sight from the mourners surrounding Stark, and tells Theo softly who the man is. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki is unsure what they should do. He knows he will not be welcome among the other Avengers and heroes of Earth, and the warriors from Valhalla are huddled together, discussing whether they should stay to pay their respects or return to Valhalla to welcome the “Metal Hero from Midgard,” as he hears one of them call Stark. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>So he and Theo stand in silence as the heroes of Midgard and Valhalla and beyond leave the battlefield in clusters. He can’t help staring at Thor, drinking him in. </span>
  <em>
    <span>He’s alive, still, after everything</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Loki can’t stopper the relief that swells within him at the thought. He looks different, carries a new weapon, but time means change. And the fact remains that in spite of it all, it </span>
  <em>
    <span>is</span>
  </em>
  <span> his brother that stands there, his back to Loki. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And then Thor turns around, eyes scanning the field around him. The shift is immediate when his eyes meet Loki’s at last. They widen, and his entire face changes. Even this far away, Loki can see his own relief reflected in his brother’s features. Thor stands straighter, his eyes shine a little brighter. He takes a step forward, then another, and before Loki knows it, Thor stands before him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re here,” he says in awe.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, I couldn’t let you have all the Titan-slaying fun, could I?” Loki’s tongue unsticks long enough for the words to tumble out of his mouth. He ignores the way his voice shakes slightly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Thor stares at him for a beat before his lips turn up in a smile. It looks like the first smile to grace his face in years. Loki wonders what the time has done to his once shining, brave, optimistic brute of a brother.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You were late,” he says, but the tone is nothing like it was on the bifrost forever ago. His voice is hoarse with bone-deep exhaustion and emotion.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sorry about that,” Loki says, trying for a lighter tone and finding the apology sounds genuine. “Death was rather insistent. And you are no longer missing an eye.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Theo’s watching the exchange, confusion clear on his face. Thor’s staring at Loki, years of pain and guilt etched deep into the skin of his face. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki scoffs. “Come here, then, you great oaf,” he says, his tone shooting for gruff but missing entirely and landing on fond. And then Thor crashes his great self into Loki, his arms coming around and gripping his brother tightly. Loki can’t find it in him to blame Thor or to push him away. This close, with Thor’s breath tickling his neck and his broad chest rising and falling against Loki’s, it is undeniable how </span>
  <em>
    <span>alive</span>
  </em>
  <span> Thor is. Loki clings to him for too long, eyes squeezed shut against the betrayal of his tears. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He hates to admit it, even after so long, but he’s missed his golden, reckless brother, as different from him as day is from night. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At last, Thor pulls away, swiping at his own eyes. Loki drops his gaze, blinking impatiently until his vision clears. When he looks back up at Thor, he sees his brother looking at Theo with curiosity. Theo is looking back with starstruck awe painted across his features.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thor, this is Theo.” Loki says. Thor’s face brightens immediately in recognition.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Theo? Theo Bell?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Theo turns red at the idea of the Almighty Thor, God of Thunder, knowing his full name, and for a wild moment, Loki thinks he might faint, but he doesn’t.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s me,” Theo chokes out. “You must be Thor.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Thor smiles and holds out his hand. “That I am. It is wonderful to finally meet you, Theo Bell.” Theo takes his hand and they shake. “By the way, I said none of those things Loki said I did.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Theo seems to relax, and he laughs. “I didn’t think so.” He glances at Loki. “It sounded like a bit of mischief.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Thor laughs, too.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It was a mistake to introduce you two.” Loki says.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“On the contrary,” Thor replies. “It’s good to know someone who sees through your bullshit as well as I do.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I am unknowable.” Loki says haughtily, resisting the urge to cross his arms and pout like a child.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“An excellent example of some bullshit.” Theo says proudly, and Thor’s booming laugh echoes through the abandoned battlefield like thunder, and though he is laughing at Loki’s expense, the sound feels like coming home. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Come,” Thor says, beckoning to them to follow him back to what remains of the compound.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The others,” Loki says, not moving.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I will make sure they tolerate you,” Thor says. He sounds so sure he can win them over. Loki doesn’t believe it, but he follows anyway, Theo at his side. His hand drifts out, fingers brushing against Theo’s palm, asking a question without words. Theo answers, taking his hand.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The other heroes of Earth don’t so much tolerate Loki as merely ignore him. He’s all right with that. But they take to Theo almost immediately, and Loki can’t blame them; Theo is very likable. He draws people into his orbit like a planet pulling in meteors. Loki is content to watch him win over each Avenger from a corner, love smoldering in his chest the whole time. He’d be jealous, but Theo always comes back to him in the end, surprisingly precisely when the envy is threatening to consume him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He’s chatting with Rogers and a man with a metal arm who apparently is called Barnes. They’re trading stories of their past lives. Though Rogers and Barnes are from a time eighty years after Theo’s death, they have surprisingly similar pasts. Loki sits across the room, pretending not to listen to their conversation, but he is.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Barnes cell phone vibrates, making Theo jump. He’s still getting acclimated to the drastic changes Midgard has undergone in the last hundred and sixty years. Barnes groans.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s from Sam,” He says to Rogers, and reads out loud, “ ‘Barnes, come quick, I need your arm!’ If he wants me to crack walnuts for him again I’m going to crack his skull.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The Captain throws back his head and laughs, his hand drifting to Barnes’s shoulder. At the contact, Barnes’s irritated expression relaxes almost instantly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Rogers looks at Theo. “We’d better go. Talk to you later.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The two Avengers stand and leave the room, bidding farewell to Theo, and, to his surprise, to Loki, too. He’s still staring after them in shock when the door shuts and Theo crosses the room to him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What do you want to do now?” Theo asks, hands wandering down Loki’s face now that they’re alone. Loki steals a kiss to Theo’s palm as it passes his lips; Theo smiles.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He needs to talk to Theo; they cannot stay here forever. Already the warriors from Valhalla are asking him when they are returning to their eternal feast.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Shall we go for a walk?” Loki asks. Theo nods, taking his hand and pulling him out of his chair. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As soon as they exit the compound, Loki pretends not to see Theo glancing around to make sure they are alone. Old atrocities die hard, Loki supposes. When Theo ensures there is no one else around, he takes Loki’s hand again and chooses the direction. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They walk in silence for awhile. Loki tries to parse together a coherent way to broach the topic of their next steps. He has a few ideas, but he’s unsure how Theo will react. All he knows is he will go where Theo goes. He wants no more distance than the space between their held hands, between his lips coming home against Theo’s.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You are brooding again.” Theo says, looking up at Loki. He must see something of Loki’s thoughts in his face, though, because he amends, “Or perhaps you </span>
  <em>
    <span>are</span>
  </em>
  <span> merely thinking.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki opens his mouth to respond, but is interrupted by a voice behind them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Loki!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki and Theo stop walking and turn. Theo drops Loki’s hand like he’s been burned, before seeing that it’s Thor. He touches Loki’s hand with the tips of his fingers, but doesn’t take the god’s hand again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Thor catches up to them. He nods to Theo. “Theo.” Theo gives a little wave and a hesitant smile. Thor smiles back before turning back to Loki.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ll do it,” he says. “I’ll get it for you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What will you tell the others?” Loki asks. Thor shrugs, unconcerned. “I’ll think of something. Just promise me you’re not going to use it for malicious ends.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t intend to use it for evil. I can’t promise I won’t cause a bit of mischief, though.” Theo snorts, and Loki casts a fond look in his direction. “I’m just trying to keep my word.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Thor’s eyebrows raise, and he looks between Loki and Theo. “First time for everything, I guess,” Thor says, and Loki glares at him, but there’s no real heat behind it. “I’ll let you know when I have it, yeah?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki nods. Thor gives Theo another nod in farewell and turns away. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thor.” Thor turns back to Loki, who looks uncomfortable. “Thank you,” he says, not quite making eye contact.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wonders never cease,” Thor replies, winking at Theo. Then, “Don’t mention it.” And then he’s walking away before Loki can summon a knife to throw at him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki turns back to Theo and they start walking again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What was that about?” Theo asks. Loki slips an arm around his waist, loose enough that Theo can pull away if he’s still on edge from the intrusion. He doesn’t pull away.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I made you a promise many years ago,” Loki begins slowly. “I can’t keep it entirely, because Asgard was destroyed several years ago. And don’t look at me like that; it wasn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>my</span>
  </em>
  <span> fault! It was… a team effort, between a sort of fire giant called Surtur and my sister--”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You have a </span>
  <em>
    <span>sister</span>
  </em>
  <span>?! What--”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hush, and let me finish. That’s a very long story and I’ll tell you the whole thing later, all right? Anyway, because of that I cannot bring you to Asgard. So I asked Thor if he’d smuggle the Tesseract, the Space Stone, to me. I can’t show you my planet, but perhaps I can make up for it by showing you the rest of the universe. Except, of course, those planets where there’s a price on my head.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Theo’s staring at him, showing no sign of responding.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So… what do you think?” Loki asks hesitantly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’ll take me to see other planets?” Theo asks.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That is, unless you’d rather return to Valhalla with the others?” Loki replies, suddenly concerned he should have asked Theo before talking to Thor.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you kidding? We can die again later! I want to see the galaxy!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki laughs, and Theo launches himself at the god, kissing him quiet.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thank you for keeping your promise in the end,” Theo murmurs against his lips when they pull away. In reply, Loki pulls him into another kiss.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They are back on the battlefield once more, Loki and Theo and Thor. Thor passes the Tesseract to Loki, who sends it to his pocket dimension until they are ready to leave.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Thor watches him, a hint of residual suspicion in his eyes. It hurts a little, but Loki supposes he deserves it. In any case, the mistrust is minuscule compared to other looks his brother has given him over the years. Loki mostly sees reluctance of a different sort in his face now.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No evil, Thor.” Loki says again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My definition of evil and your definition are very different, brother.” Thor says, but he says it with a teasing smile.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s because you have no sense of fun.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, it’s because I have a passing sense of decorum.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We cannot all be boring monarchs.” Loki says.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Perhaps you should petition Valkyrie to reorganize your royal theatre.” Thor raises his voice in a caricature of his acting counterpart’s. “ ‘Oh, Loki, you were so brave! What a courageous way to fake your death for the sixtieth time! I will tell Father of your honorable not-death!’ Truly, brother, you are an eloquent playwright.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I take it back. I will commit nothing but evil.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Good to know. Now go away so I can talk to your beloved.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why?” Loki asks, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Never you mind. Now shoo,” Thor flaps his hands as though he’s shooing a flock of birds rather than the god of mischief. Loki scowls at him, but obliges by walking a few yards out of earshot. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Thor turns to Theo and lowers his voice. “That man has ears like a hawk.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I am intimately aware, your highness.” Theo says with a crooked smile. Thor returns it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Keep him honest, Bell,” he says softly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s a lot to ask for, sir.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Thor throws back his head and laughs harder than he has in years. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I like you,” he says, lowering his voice again. “If nothing else, Mr. Bell, keep him happy. He’s more difficult and mischievous when he’s cross--”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I heard that!” Loki shouts.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Thor ignores him, but he speaks even softer when he continues, “And he has missed you a long time.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Believe me, your majesty, it is my every desire to keep him happy.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Thor nods, and claps him on the shoulder. “Godspeed, Theo Bell.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They return to where Loki is waiting. Neither is sure who moves first, but the next moment the brothers are locked in a tight embrace. When they part, Thor almost looks like he wants to take the Tesseract back, but he doesn’t.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loki places a hand on Thor's shoulder. “We’ll only ever be a few galaxies away, brother.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ve only just got you back,” Thor says, and it sounds like the admission is ripped from him, the way his voice shakes when he speaks.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“This isn’t forever, Thor.” Loki glances briefly at Theo, like he can’t keep his eyes off the man for long, before dragging his gaze back to his brother. “I’m merely keeping a promise I should have kept long ago.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Thor nods, and steps away. He looks at Theo again. “It was good to finally meet you at last, Theo Bell. Until we meet again.” He inclines his head, and Theo returns the bow. Then Loki reaches out a hand towards Theo, summoning the tesseract into his other hand.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Theo takes Loki’s hand and returns the almost un-Loki-like fond smile.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Place your hand on the tesseract,” Loki murmurs.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Will it hurt me?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I will not let it, my love.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Thor is almost blown away by the gentle way his brother speaks to this man. But Thor sees it in every glance between them, even when the other is not looking, and in every word they speak to one another: the deep, devotional love they have held for each other all this time. He truly hopes he will be able to meet Theo again, to find out how this one Midgardian man managed to become so dearly loved by his brother. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Theo touches the stone, and with one final glance of Loki toward his brother, the two are gone, instantaneously blown to some distant planet in another solar system, another galaxy. Together, at last. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
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